Rivu Aiasan

Despite his generally youthful appearance, Rivu Aiasan is actually quite old. Having been born in 840, he was very young during the Stone’s revolt against the Kazehana Empire. While many offshoots of the primary clan were called to action, a mere 6 years spelled the practical end for those now referred to the Cursed Ones. Like proper shinobi, Rivu and his twin sister, Monsuta, were called to battle against the rebellion. Their battles were hard fought and, by the end, they were the only surviving members of the Aiasan clan to remain.

The resulting power vacuum filled with warring factions consumed much of the Land of Stone and, with no where else to go, the twins joined the struggle in an effort to regain some sense of purpose or standing. It did not go well, however. After more than a decade of near constant war, Monsuta received a fatal wound in battle. Fairly weak in the arms, he did the only thing he could. His body warping and twisting with surges of nature energy afforded him the strength to carry her to safety. It seemed this did not go unnoticed, however; and an arrow pierced the dark veil and Rivu’s shoulder, while regenerating her wound. Pained, fearful, shocked at many of their own brethren approaching with weapons drawn and unable to lift his dominant arm, Rivu panicked. In a flurry of motion, Monsuta, still not fully recovered, bounced to her feet. With a stubborn hiss, she ordered her brother to run. She always was the better fighter, but neither of them were in shape to take on half a battalion.

He never saw her again.

The next night, cloaked in the unassuming guise of a child, this now last Cursed One, as he might as well have been, sought medical attention with a sympathetic Ijutsu user. After being patched up, she took in this poor boy as her young protege to help with the healing of a few dozen wounded soldiers. Missing limbs, vicious claw swipes and a look of horror in their eyes, Rivu knew that these shinobi were involved in the death of his sister. For now, it couldn’t be helped. In that night, seen as a mere glimmer against an opposite fire, he found his sister’s necklace: a gift passed down through the matriarchs of their misbegotten clan.

Over the next few years, Rivu stuck with these warmongers assuming the name Gensou Sainaan; a child in their eyes as he never recovered from using the Cellular Regeneration Ejection technique. He fought alongside those that murdered his sister, acting as a field medic and healing their wounds. This continued until the old woman’s death, the only sympathetic creature in that group as far as he was concerned. In the dark of that night, after picking the perimeter guards off, Rivu entered each sleeping quarters and silently numbing and severing the esophagus of each shinobi. In the morning, all any might find was an entire faction vying for the Land of Stone suddenly snuffed out.

Unfortunately, he was now without purpose. Everyone he had ever known was now dead and he had nowhere to go. Resigned, this Cursed One sought out the Daimyo who granted him asylum. Earning his eventual trust, Rivu rose to quite high esteem. After many decades, Rivu soon began to understand the nature of politics, within and without the nation. He grew smart, wise, tactful; no more was he simply a warrior for the bands of mercenaries.

Now appearing to be well into his fifties and with the Daimyo quite older, their combined tactical edge and political support across the Land allowed for a lasting peace to eventually be brokered. No more would warlords vie for their own piece of the rocks, a unified Iwagakure was coming to fruition. Of course there was, as always, resistance. On the day the Village Hidden in the Stone became a reality, an arrow found its way to the Daimyo’s chest.

Once more, the world began to collapse around him;his only remaining friend was going to die. This time, fortunately, many shinobi were there to evacuate him before his death. Kicking out every other mediocre medic, Rivu tried relentlessly to restore the Daimyo’s wound. While doing so, however, another enemy combatant entered the room. In an effort to maximize time and minimize possible damage from fighting, Rivu immediately activated his Cursed form and dispatched the aggressor.

Of course, with the sudden commotion, many had entered the room to see the Daimyo’s right hand to be one of the monsters that had subjugated them so long ago. As jumped through the open window, all he could hear was his old friend’s tired “Wait!” It was too late, however; who they knew as Gensou Sainaan could never return to Iwagakure.

Once more, he was on his own… A few weeks of nothing passed before Rivu happened upon a self proclaimed master of Fuuinjutsu in his travels. With nowhere to go, the now veritably Cursed One accompanied him. It didn’t take long for him to discover that this man was here to find living members of the Nature Clan. He appeared genuinely curious… Not at all perturbed by their past… It took awhile, but Rivu finally confided his identity to the now immensely excited man. Over the next month, after having thought to perfect his technique, he finally tried this procedure on himself. It did not go well. Twisting his body into a terrible orange and mutating his limbs into near useless cancers, Rivu once more grew fearful. He would not let another die. After conventional Ijutsu failed, he turned back to the same technique he used on his sister. Despite his best efforts and being reduced, again, to the facade of a child,  euthanasia was the only option.

Until reaching academy age, Rivu stayed holed up as an abandoned child on the streets of Iwagakure. Of course, given his decades of life experience, these years were far from difficult for him. Proving himself a capable genin and even genin, the boy quickly rose to the rank of Jounin where he remains today: A capable shinobi, loyal to the only cause he has left and kept mostly to himself.

Rivu’s past has definitely caught up with him. Twice now, due to his genetic curse, he’s had to abandon everything he’s ever known. He’s consequently distant, reclusive and quiet. It’s a rare thing to see him smile genuinely. If he were to be with anyone he wouldn’t consider a friend, they would all be stiff lies. Only with the closest of his friends would he ever even laugh more than a few chuckles. This was the result of 90s years spent jaded and forced to be alone. Why bother with comradery when, at the whim of fate, you could lose everyone.

Despite appearing to be cold hearted, he does long for companionship. He’s capable of humor, kindness, love; but he has yet to find people to fill that hole. No one from the academy truly connected with him; being over 75 years their senior, how could they?

Regardless, the Land of Stone has been his home, the only home that he has ever known. From his childhood, his family had been hunted to near extinction and his homeland was ravaged by endless feuds between insatiable warlords… Until he met the Daimyo. That was where his real strengths were demonstrated: his intellect and his wisdom. Through their struggle, and the struggle of many hopeful shinobi, Iwagakure paved the way for lasting peace within his homeland. Even now, after having to leave behind that life, he is fiercely loyal to the Dream of Iwagakure. He would lend whatever aid he could to the cause of defending that ideal.

His strength, his mind or his healing touch; they were all in service to Iwagakure. His Kekkei Genkai, however, is a more of a point of shame with him. It had been many years since he has heard a single person utter words in the favor of the Cursed Ones. If at all possible, he’d prefer that no one see his truth; lest they turn their back on him. No, he reserves that sight for his enemies and their last.

Kira? Now?! With the Cursed One's clone dispersing, all of it's acquired knowledge was transmitted back to the original. And what fascinating information as well. It was true that the unfortuitous arrival of his most capable foe was beyond inconvenient, but that was true on both sides. First of all, Kira, despite tremendous foresight, allowed the Heavenly Weeping senbon to strike him. While he successfully avoided fatal wounds, he was stifled just long enough for the Mizu Bunshin to assault him so closely. Sure, the clone was dissipated, but if the Cursed One had known this was Kira at the time, the initial strike would have resulted in far worse than a tumble. No... Kira was saving his chakra; how unlike him. He thought, thinking back to their previous encounters. The attack itself was not overtly aggressive, either. Each move he made positioned himself better for the next move.

The happenings in Kumogakure... Kira, you're low on chakra, too...

Then there were the other two, who appeared to be merely children. Still, he wasn't completely sure about their strength and would have to exercise caution. However, knowing this event was unplanned, the genin Tsukiko and Akiba could also very well be fresh out of the academy. The final curiosity was Kira's presence at all, then; surely the Raikage would have better things to do than to play jounin for a squad.

In a fight against chakra depletion, however, he would probably lose. Kira's actions were under the assumption that the Cursed One was at full capacity and even then, he presumed he could take him on. There were too many unknowns for that strategy. Instead, he'd use a pawn to topple the king.

From behind the misty veil, the Cursed One watched as dark clouds began to encroach upon his technique. Gritting his teeth as he recognized the Takoyaiba jutsu. Soon enough, his own vision would be clouded. Something strange happened, though. He moved away? Given the Raikage's potential speed, pursuing the genin would be impossible if they ran. In fact, he was probably expecting them to retreat, but they didn't.

Hidden in the mist, the former Mizukage bounded off of his host branch and bolted straight towards the children. As he ran, the thunderous clouds ushering in a cacophony of chaos billowed and grew. Seemingly randomly, streaks of brilliant lightning would streak across the once peaceful island setting. As the Cursed One charged, his head low and forward like a predator stalking prey, he wove some quick hand seals. Stretching his right arm behind him and shielding his face with his opposite elbow, his hands burst with brilliant blue chakra.

His sensitive skin tingled at the static building up within the air around him. Lightning might not have been his friend, but that was only if he got hit. Kicking off briefly to the right, a bright crack flashed into existence where his path would have previously let him. This technique was not really all that dangerous at all. Once more, his body lifted from the ground and rotated through the air as two bolts came to form a blockage for him. Far more majestically than his initial display might suggest, he was quite quick and nimble. He wouldn't have to avoid too many bolts before he would finally happen upon Akiba and Tsukiko.

Too eas- He thought before an arrow hit him square in the chest, hitting directly where his heart should have been. There was only one way someone could have taken that shot without seeing him. A sensor... Not good. He thought, grabbing the arrow with his left hand and tossing it aside. The hand seals he wove were for a bluff to get the rapidly exhausting Sage to simply leave without a fight; if this sensor gave away just how much chakra he had left, it would be the end. Still, that made the execution of his previous plan all the more paramount,

While Akiba and Tsukiko were standing outside of the mist, the Storm Front would quickly overtake them and block their view as his now was. Since they didn't move, however, they were right where he thought they were. To Tsukiko, she would see only the billowing cloud overtake her. To Akiba, the Cursed One would come into view nigh instantaneously after he had fired that shot. The monstrous Mizukage wouldn't even appear injured, save a small hole in his leather jerkin's breast. As he reached Akiba, the surrounding flashes of lightning would strobe the effects of the his attack. Not even striking, the beast-shinobi slunk around the boy like a coiling snake until stopping behind him. Just as quickly as he appeared, the Cursed One would hold his hands to the boy's mouth and throat. From within Akiba's mouth, he would experience a sharp pain before feeling the taste of his own blood falling from the his gums.

"Enough!" The voice of the Cursed One called out, throwing his voice in the direction of Kira so that he might still be heard. "Stop now, or the bowman dies!"

As he spoke, the tide appeared to come rather close to where they stood, but this was entirely purposeful. As it came, it would rise to two feet up their legs before quickly rising like a crashing wave pushing up the coast and pushing the dark cloud upwards. Static built by his ear as he nonchalantly tilted his head to the side and avoided the passing bolt of electricity. Appearing from the outside as if they were being sterilized or something, the water contoured just outside Akiba's and the Cursed One's body, keeping them dry as the water shallowed behind it. Kira and Tsukiko would be hit by this ten meter wave, knocking them off of their feet from the unexpected surge. 25 meters in all directions, the Storm Front would be pushed upwards where it would continue to rise, out of sight and out of mind.

Then and only then would Kira finally be able to see that his genin had not retreated. In fact, that one was taken hostage by the Cursed One, surrounded by five haphazardly formed tendrils about half as wide as himself coiled like snakes at the ready. This was checkmate. While Kira was fast, was he fast enough to kill the former Mizukage before he killed Akiba? Unless Kira was willing to let the bowman die, this fight was over.